Joseph Conrad, the sea captain who became a novelist, wrote of "the bewitching breath of the Eastern waters... the gift of endless dreams.
In the China Seas the British dreamt dreams of endless power, endless wealth and endless superiority. The heart of their dreams was Singapore, the gateway to the East, the fulcrum of Asian trade - and, by the 1930s, an impressive fortress.
In December 1941, the rising Empire of Japan attacked Malaya, and inflicted a swift and humiliating defeat on the British. Singapore fell on 15 February 1942. The dreaming was over. The illusion of British power and superiority was shattered.
